142nd Fires Brigade Returns To Basic Soldiering At Chaffee

Thursday

May 23, 2013 at 4:36 AMMay 23, 2013 at 10:28 AM

FORT CHAFFEE — The men and women of the 142nd Fires Brigade returned to basic soldiering Thursday at Fort Chaffee when they went through "individual movement techniques" training as part of their two-week National Guard Annual Training.

FORT CHAFFEE — The men and women of the 142nd Fires Brigade returned to basic soldiering Thursday at Fort Chaffee when they went through “individual movement techniques” training as part of their two-week National Guard Annual Training.

The brigade includes a Multiple Launch Rocket Systems battalion and an M109A6 Paladin howitzer battalion, but for the last two weeks, training has focused on more basic skills.

It was designed as “pre-mobilization training” for a brigade deployment to the Horn of Africa as a security force. When that mission was scrubbed, a decision was made to keep the PMT schedule in place, which has “been very good training” for the soldiers, said Brigade Commander Col. Troy Galloway.

“It was frankly a nice change of pace, a way to challenge them a way they haven’t been (challenged) in the last few years,” Galloway said.

More than 1,000 members of the 142nd participated in the two-week annual training at Chaffee this year.

The challenge Thursday was IMT, which involved 12-soldier squads going through a short — but sustained and intense — course that forces them to react to indirect enemy fire, breach certain obstacles, including concertina wire, employ techniques for advancing on an enemy position under fire in an open area, high crawl, low crawl, back crawl, assault an enemy machine gun position, use combat lifesaver skills to assist downed soldiers (full weight dummies with amputated limbs and simulated bleeding) and finally, a final sprint called the “megadeath mile” to the finish line.

Throughout the course, the soldiers of the 142nd were put under constant stress, from artillery simulators, simulated machine-gun fire, grenade simulators, green and yellow smoke, and the comforting voices of officers and non-commissioned officers — some on bullhorns — offering encouragement that’s reminiscent of the “encouragement” heard in basic training.

“Do not take it personal — the ‘encouragement’ — their job is stressing the troops,” said 2nd Battalion Command Sgt Maj. Steve Griffin of Mulberry.

Pfc. Alexander King, 25, of Greenwood was running the IMT course for the first time, after completing basic training and Advanced Individual Training (AIT) about six months ago. Like other lower-ranking soldiers, King was put in charge of his squad, with most in it outranking him.

“I am a little nervous being in charge of these NCOs (non-commissioned officers),” King said, before his squad took to the course. The tension was ratcheted up when Griffin and 2nd Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Marcus Bussell of Memphis.

As King’s squadron started the course, the silence soon was broken by an artillery simulator and encouragement.

“Faster! Faster!”

“Go! Go! Get down!”

“Keep that butt low!”

“Get off of my wall!”

“Why are you walking?!”

“You’re still taking fire!”

At one point, when King’s squadron was trying to assess and move an injured soldier (one of the full-weight dummies), an NCO pointed out a simple but understandable mistake for a private trying to put his best foot forward in front of senior NCOs and officers.

As the injured soldier was loaded up for evacuation, the nervous energy and laughs of squad members was replaced by tired, almost vacant stares and heavy breathing, even before the final sprint.

At the end, one soldier came away with a chipped tooth, one appeared ready to vomit, and yet another, unable to run, nonetheless insisted on finishing the course before having his injured back assessed.

During an after-action review of his squad’s performance, Griffin pointed out to that some members of the squad got too far ahead of others when ambushing an enemy position, which puts them at risk for friendly fire or prevents their fellow soldiers from firing, out of fear they’ll hit them.

King said the squad needed a better plan for breaching the concertina obstacle, which slowed them down because they weren’t better organized.

Bussell, Griffin and another NCO all complimented King’s performance.

King said the course was much more intense that he anticipated, but he liked the stress maintained throughout the exercise combined with direction from instructors when he and his squad got confused.

While King was excited about the prospect of running the course again — though not immediately — he confessed he was “kind of glad” the IMT course was the final exercise of annual summer training.